💪 Home Page and Image Download Enhancements [09.21.18]

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Summer may be coming to an end, but CloudSpot's updates are just getting warmed up for the year!

This update has improvements to your client's experience when downloading their photos as well as enhancements to your Home Page. Check em' out!

Embed your CloudSpot Home Page

You can now easily generate code to embed your Home Page directly into your website! You no longer need to hyperlink out to a separate page and can tailor your client's experience within your own unique site! 😼💯

Download Expirations

When you set an expiration date on a direct download link, your clients will see exactly when the download is going to expire. ⏳

Clearer Call to Action for Image Purchasing

When sales are turned ON in a gallery, when hovering over an image clients will see the option to "Buy Photo" and purchase your beautiful photos! 😍

Linkable Categories

We know you might not always want to share or embed every gallery on your main Home Page with prospective clients, so you can now link directly to a certain category on your Home Page!
🙌

When you click on a category on your homepage, the URL in your browser will change and reflect the selected category. This URL can be copied and shared as a direct link to just your galleries in that category!

Send Email Template Simplified

When you email your gallery to your clients, you will be able to select your Template and change the email's Content all in the same step of the sharing flow!

Email Template Design Changes

Thanks to the feedback of our photographers, we've made adjustments to our email layouts! We've added a gallery expiration section, changed the look/feel of the buttons, and added some nice padding all around 😎

🚀 Web Updates Galore!

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G
Gavin, CEO & Founder

Since the launch of our web version the CloudSpot team is constantly making optimizations to help your experience be more intuitive and smooth.

Literally every day, something new or improved is put into your hands 💪

Here are just some of the new things you'll notice!

Improved Organization of Gallery Settings

As we continue to add more features to galleries, we've moved around some of the controls into more intuitive sections of your gallery settings

CloudSpot Logo Takes you to the Main Events Page

In case you're ever needing to quickly jump back to see all of your Events, we'd added a quick little shortcut!

Direct Download Links Never Expire

Yes, one of our most requested features is here! By default, any download link you send to your clients will not expire! However, you can now also control the exact date as well if you'd like 😃

Account Settings Updated Design

The sections in your Account Settings needed a bit of updating to mesh better with the rest of the application, so we prettied them up.

Drag & Drop Anywhere to Add Images to Folders

Adding images to a folder is now as easy as dragging and dropping. It's the little things sometimes, right? 😁

Quickly Re-Send a Gallery to All Previous Visitors

Want to run a sale on a gallery but don't want to go hunting for the emails of your gallery visitors? You can now add them all with just one click! 🎉

Additionally, you can use CloudSpot on your tablet device as well! Yes, you can even upload images via your iPad if needed!

📱Mobile browser support is already in the works and that will be rolling out in phases over the coming weeks

What's the difference if I use the web version?

One of the huge benefits in using CloudSpot on the web is that updates, fixes, and optimizations are rolled out almost daily. No need to download or install a new version, it's just automagically available to you.

This means that today's release already has a TON of new things in there waiting for you to explore.

Easily Add a Cover to Your Event

New Upload Experience

Our team has completely rebuilt the upload process and have included an upload progress indicator for those times where you minimize your uploads and continue working within CloudSpot!

Gallery Settings - Sales and Email Capture are Turned ON by Default

We have automatically enabled these two most popular features by default. This will apply to all future galleries created - yay for less clicks!

Email Template Previews Enhanced

When sharing, we have replaced the teeny tiny email previews with icons instead. This helps things load more quickly and let's be honest...those previews weren't readable anyways 😅

Drag and Drop Upload Interface in Empty Events or Folders

If you don't have any images in a given folder, you'll see a handy-dandy drag and drop target to get those beautiful photos uploading in no time!

Bug Obituaries ☠️

Copying a Catalog now correctly copies over all items, prices, and markups.

Favorited photos now display in alphanumeric order in your Event Analytics

8.1.2 [ Released 06.02.18 ]

Fix

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Gavin, CEO & Founder

Squashing bugs on the weekend, thanks to our rockstar developers! A few quick fixes coming to you this beautiful Saturday afternoon 😎

Bug Obituaries ⚰️

The "Date Captured" image sorting feature is now working correctly.

We've adjusted some of the button behavior when customizing gallery cover photo settings.

The Share tab in your gallery settings now defaults to "none" for the setting related to inserting a video or slideshow link

📣 8.1.1 [ Released 06.01.18 ]

Improvement

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Gavin, CEO & Founder

We've been blown away by all of the amazing feedback from our Community since launching the huge CloudSpot redesign last week!

In the spirit of keeping that love-fest rolling, we've got another update with additional improvements, optimizations, and a some bug fixes coming your way in today's update ⚒

Selected State Added to Folder Sorting

We've removed the guesswork as to what sorting option you've selected for a given folder ✅

Enabling Discount Codes in a Gallery is Separated from Discount Code Restrictions

The previous interface was confusing, so we've now created two separate sections for these settings. One turns all Discount Codes on/off and the other section allows you to enable and limit usage to only specific codes in a gallery.

Getting Started Screen Added to the Store

We've added a quick start guide to your Store section to help you get up and rolling with your gallery sales 💰

Bug Obituaries ☠️

When sorting images in a folder, you can now drag and scroll further down the page in one action.

Deleting one or more images in a folder no longer jumps you to the top of that folder.

Connecting a Stripe account is no longer required to complete the Store section of the Getting Started helper.

There is no longer a delay in Cover images appearing after you sort Events.

Better feedback when you drag images/folders over a drop target for upload

Gallery accent colors now default to a dark gray and white is no longer an option as an accent color. (to prevent important buttons from being hidden in the gallery)

Duplicate Event names are now allowed.

😍 8.0.1 [ Released 05.22.18]

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Gavin, CEO & Founder

It's a big day at CloudSpot HQ! 🎉

We're beyond excited to announce today that CloudSpot has a COMPLETELY new interface...go check it out! 😍

Since CloudSpot launched, our incredible community has not only exponentially grown, but creatives like you have shared invaluable feedback with us on CloudSpot's interface and features - we are so grateful!

Today's changes reinforce our continued commitment towards building a platform that is easy to use, saves you time in your workflow, and makes your business shine even brighter in the eyes of your clients!

Here are some of the most notable improvements we've made - we can't wait to show you what's next!

New Centralized Event Dashboard (with quick search/sorting)

You now have all of your Events displayed right when you log in. We've also made it much faster and easier to filter, search, and jump right to the Event you need!

Event Tags

Event Categories have now transformed into Event Tags! You can now add one or more tags to an Event which will allow you to more quickly access and filter your Event Dashboard.

Event Details at a Glance

As you browse your Events, you can easily see how many images, galleries, and tags you have assigned to any given Event.

Intuitive Event Quick Actions

Whether it's on your main Event Dashboard or within the Event itself, you'll see Quick Action shortcuts to speed up your workflow.

Easily Manage Event Images & Create or Share Images

Once you upload photos to an Event, you can manage everything on a single page.

Set a Cover Photo with a Click

Assigning or changing a cover photo to an Event is lightning fast!

Faster Copy/Move Images

Once you select one or more images, you'll now see options appear at the bottom of your screen to copy, move, delete, or share instantly.

Redesigned Gallery List

Galleries created within Events now have a new look! At a glance you can see important gallery settings, quickly view the gallery, or share it to clients.

New "Getting Started" Setup Wizard

If you're new to the CloudSpot family, we've streamlined things to help get you up and running as quickly as possible after you log in to CloudSpot for the first time 🚀

7.1.3 [ Released 04.09.18 ]

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Gavin, CEO & Founder

We’ve recently released another update to your Client Gallery Experience!

Thank you to everyone who reached out and shared feedback with us after the big launch a couple weeks ago! We’ve heard you, and are excited for you to check out these brand new changes!

New features include

A Dark Theme for Galleries: We've inverted the light color scheme to add an additional option for your gallery colors!

Two Horizontal Gallery Layouts: Landscape enthusiasts, rejoice! Also, the mobile view for the horizontal layouts is a single column experience 👍

Image Padding for Gallery Images: Want to add a fine art matte border around your gallery images? No problem! You can choose between a medium and large spacing option (medium is our favorite 😍)

9 New Languages: ¡Qué asombroso! International clients can now navigate galleries easier by reading in their own language. You can set a default language for all galleries, or customize specific galleries one at a time! The supported languages now include:

Direct download links now expire after 30 days: We've extended the expiration time from 14 to 30 days! Any direct download links sent to your clients or requested from a gallery will now remain active for an entire month 📅

We can’t wait for you to check out all of these new ways to better customize your gallery experience - keep that feedback coming!

📣 Important Changes to our Free Plan [ 03.12.18 ]

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Gavin, CEO & Founder

As we continue to build CloudSpot to be the best tool for your growing business, please note some key changes to those currently trialing our platform on the Free plan.

Connections Section + Integrated Email Sharing UNLOCKED! What was once only available to users on an upgraded plan is now unlocked for all photographers! You will now see all of your contacts in your Connections section and can quickly utilize those Connections every time you share. Need to send an email to a group of people? No problem! It's just a couple clicks away. Learn more about the Connections section HERE

Image Size Delivery Options: Image delivery sizes have been limited to 3600px (roughly an 8x10 size) on the longest edge for photographers trialing our service on our Free plan.

NOTE: We still safely store the exact file you upload to us, but delivering that Original size in either a direct download link or in your gallery settings now requires an upgraded plan.

🙌 We appreciate your support and can't wait for all of the new things coming your way soon! Check them out HERE

😍 7.0.6 [ Released 03.20.18 ]

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Gavin, CEO & Founder

Your New Client Gallery Experience is Here!

We've taken things to another level when it comes to the experience your clients are going to have in their gallery!

Here are just some of the new things we know you're going to love!

7 New Gallery Cover Designs: You now have more options to match your unique style in your client galleries. You can choose your cover design in the new Covers section added to your Gallery Settings and get a live preview of what it will look like on web or mobile devices!

Set Unique Cover Images For Every Gallery: When creating multiple galleries within an Event you can now set a unique image for each and every gallery! Organizing multiple shoots for the same client is now possible within the same Event!

Adjust Cover Focal Point: There is now more control in the new Covers section of your Gallery settings to get that cover photo positioned juuuuust right! Just click and drag for the perfect fit based on the cover design you choose 💪🏼

Clients Can Share Favorites: Your clients can now mark their favorite photos and share a link to anyone directly to those images via email, SMS text, or copy the direct link.

Alert Photographer of Favorites: Once clients are finished selecting their favorited photos, they can now instantly alert you and add a custom message! You'll receive an email notification right away 👍

SMS Sharing: Clients can now share a single image, just their favorited photos, or the entire gallery directly via text on any mobile device!

Easier Mobile Downloads: We've added an icon on mobile devices to indicate that you have allowed downloads within the gallery. Clients can now easily save an image to their device at whatever size you allow.

Slideshow Feature: At the tap of a button, your clients can start a beautiful slideshow that advances through your gallery images.

Easier Folder Navigation: Gallery folders/categories are no longer hidden in a dropdown menu. They are easily accessible and will scroll immediately to that section in the gallery.

Image Filenames Visible: The image filename is now visible when you hover over the image in the gallery. You no longer need to click on the photo to see the name. To disable filename display, you can toggle that OFF in your gallery settings.

Home Page Search: We've added a handy search feature to your Home Page so clients (or you) can quickly jump to any gallery - no more scrolling for dayzzz.

New Download Page Design: We've updated the design of the page your clients will see when they click on a "Download Now" link in your CloudSpot emails.

Gallery Loading & Lightbox Speed Enhancements: Things should just generally feel faster and more responsive on any device. 🏎💨

Other updates

Store > Discount Codes: The "Max # of uses" setting for discount codes is now on a per-gallery basis and no longer is applied across all galleries. This allows you to create one discount code to give to all clients and not have to create unique codes for each!

Store Activity Section: We've removed this to make way for new things coming soon!

We are so excited to bring these and even MORE updates to your client galleries soon - we hope you enjoy! 🙌

🚧 6.4.2 [ Released 01.19.18 ]

Fix

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Gavin, CEO & Founder

Fix

Gallery Presets: For users on our free tier, there was some odd formatting on some of the preset buttons. We couldn't sleep knowing a few buttons didn't look good, so we fixed em!